Week 30 ~ A Scare Okay, first of all, I am doing what I should have done a long time ago, and am skipping a week because my due date was moved a week earlier. So, I am really 30 weeks now, not 29. All this changing due date business is getting crazy. My "official" due date is December 31st (moved from January 7th) but then, because I am having a c-section, my doctor mentioned doing it anywhere from December 18-22. So, when people ask me when I'm due, I just say "mid-late December". Sorry for all the confusion!! (or maybe it's just ME who's confused . . . you know, it doesn't take much these days, ha ha!) Secondly, we had kind of a scare a few days ago. I had been having this weird "pain" at the top of my stomach. It wasn't like a cramp, it was just this pain (I'm sorry I can't explain it better than that!) that kept coming and going in intervals. The first day I had it, I justified not calling my doctor by thinking, "Well, they aren't cramps, they don't really hurt, and they are at the top of my stomach, not the lower part." I really didn't want to think anything could be wrong, so I just hoped it would go away. Plus, like I mentioned, they weren't painful, just annoying. I thought that they may be Braxton Hicks contractions, but as I never had them before, wasn't sure. Well, the second day I woke up with them, they had moved lower and were starting to get painful. I was getting worried, so I called my doctor on my way to work. The service was on, and they said they would have her call me back as soon as she got in. Well, 11 am comes and goes and she still hasn't called. I call again and was told to leave a message with her nurse on the voicemail, so I do, explaining exactly what is going on. 12:30 comes and goes and still no call. Now I'm getting super annoyed. I call back and tell the receptionist I have left 2 messages and have not heard back and that I wanted to speak to someone NOW. My doctor's nurse gets on the phone and I say, "Did you get my message this morning?" and she said, "No. I don't check my voicemail during the day." HUH?!? So, I said, "Well, I think the receptionist and service need to know that they shouldn't tell patients to leave messages on your voicemail if you won't be checking it." Hello!!! Why have voicemail if you don't check it? That makes no sense. Anyway, I told her what's going on and she tells me to come in right away. Now I'm worried. ADVERTISEMENT I get there, they tell me to come right in (that has NEVER happened. I love my doctor to pieces, but I have to say, I'm always made to wait at least an hour before going in). My doctor comes right in, I tell her how I'm feeling and she says, "Well, that doesn't sound good. I'm going to do a non-stress test." Now I'm thinking, "PLEASE don't let these be contractions!!" To make a very long story short I was on the machine for 20 minutes and when the doctor came back to look at the tape she told me the baby's movement and heartrate were both excellent. She also said I am not contracting. Whew! To be on the safe side she wanted me to have an ultrasound (you won't hear me complaining about that!!) to make sure I had enough amniotic fluid and to make sure the baby's measurements were what they are supposed to be. I got the most awesome tech! She spent about 1/2 hour with me, chatting away and letting me see everything for a really long time (long after she had determined there was enough fluid and had done all the measuring!). At one point the baby looked RIGHT at us and this machine is AMAZING because I could see sooo much detail! I could see that he has these cute little chubby cheeks and could see the shape of his nose and we could see his eyes moving; it was so cool!!! I got to take home 2 pictures (and now have quite a collection of ultrasound pictures on our fridge, I must say! hee hee). She said the baby looks great, he weighs 3 pounds, 5 oz right now and is measuring right on track. What a relief! It's amazing what you can think to yourself when something like this happens . . . I was absolutely thinking the worst (especially when my doctor went to hear the heartbeat with the doppler and couldn't find it! That has never happened, and I almost started crying, it was so scary). I am so happy that he is OK. My doctor said that the cramping was probably intestinal related (I mentioned to her that I had had diarrhea . . . lovely!) and to drink lots of fluids and take the rest of the day off from work. She said if the cramping doesn't cease, to come back on Monday (tomorrow) and she'll check me again, but (knock on wood) they seemed to have stopped. So, that was our "fun" for this week! Hopefully everything from here on out will go smoothly! Only eight more weeks to go!! Til next week :) Pregnancy Week By Week Guide ~ Week 30 week 31  |  week 28 return to Julie's main page StorkNet Home | return to top family planning | pregnancy | parenting | family life | for fun | shopping | tools | community Copyright © 2000 Julie Roaquin. All rights reserved. Site Design by StorkNet Please read our disclaimer and privacy policy. Your feedback is always welcome.